This site is about my own coming to grips with gender identity, things that interest me, and plots of cetaceans such as porpoises to take over the world.

Monday, July 24, 2006

The Ex-Mormon Blogosphere is a bit like talk radio...

I listen to talk radio. I consider it one of my vices, but it's a fairly harmless one. Despite the bad press they get most talk radio show hosts are not hate mongers, they're just expressing a different viewpoint, although there are exceptions like Michael Savage, and I even listen to him. (Not too often, his ranting gets on my nerves after awhile.)

If there's one thing I don't get it's why they don't like the blogsophere. It's not like we're even serious competition to them. Most blogs have a few readers and are posted to by relatively unknown individuals. I understand political opposition to the bloggers who disagree with them, but they spend way too much time giving too much attention to a relatively small and not widely read medium. Perhaps it's because the blogsophere can represent a threat to them. One which ironically, they help create by drawing attention to the lone blogger slogging away at a keyboard. The reaction the media has to them is much the same the talk radio shows have to us. Perhaps it's understandable.

What I don't understand is why I should be included in this mess since I rarely comment on political issues here. I don't even update the political related blog I do have all that often. If I'm personally attacking them, they're free to attack back, although I have greater options for suing since I am not a public figure, but if I leave them alone, why should I be included with those who do have an ax to grind with the radio talk show hosts?

I can understand if Mormons wanted to send me hate mail. I do after all occasionally attack the church, and my mindset was the same as theirs was before I left. If you ever read Recovery from Mormonism, many ex-Mormons still maintain a defensive mindset about their new beliefs, rather than shaking off the training and learning to think a little about the new possibilities that are open to them for studying other religions now that they no longer need to worry themselves about absolute truth. In fact, many of them decide on atheism as an absolute truth and expect others to come to the same conclusion. I'll acknowledge the possibility that there may not be a God, although I do believe in one. In fact, Ex-Mormon website owners are often like the radio talk show hosts themselves. We're sometimes loud and opinionated and a few of us spend too much time trying to expose the church as a fraud. Some of us greatly exaggerate the truth to do so. At least most of the bloggers I link to are reasonable. (One may not be, but he has a right to be in that particular list of links.)

We're also unfortunately, like the radio talk show hosts, usually preaching to the choir. We're not going to change the mind of any believer if they truly want to believe. Although I know many of you are not avid fantasy readers like I am, the Wizard's First Rule (also a book by Terry Goodkind) applies: “People can be made to believe any lie either because they want it to be true or are afraid it might be.” Whether the lie part applies to them or us is subject to debate, unfortunately a detailed study reveals that the lie part applies to both sides of the issue. It's why it is necessary to sort through any Mormonism information you find online and check the validity of its sources.

But in the end although the anger over being lied to is understandable, it does not help our cause if we cannot present our case in as calm and rational a manner as possible. It helps if you can write well, too. (Fortunately, I have very little to criticize in that area about the blogs that I link to.) The truth will come out, it's just a matter of getting it out there and being patient. Remember, True Believing Mormons don't want to learn their entire belief system is based on a lie. I know I certainly didn't